Blog

Long-form notes on AI creative, reference-led production, and what actually holds up in paid media — written by the AIMS team.

An overhead studio table holding a printed sheet of forty identical bland cosmetic adverts, and beside it one larger proof marked up by hand in red pencil

Aug 24, 2026Branding

AI Generated Ads Have No Taste. Here Is How to Give It Some

The model makes. It does not choose. Everything generic you shipped this year came out of that gap.

Henry Sedgwick · Product marketing

Overhead view of a printed marketing email cut into separate paper strips and stacked in order on a warm paper desk, with two strips lifted out to one side beside a steel ruler and a scalpel

Aug 24, 2026Performance

Klaviyo Email Templates That Convert (With Real Examples)

The layout is not the variable. The order of the blocks is.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A wire shopping basket left on the floor of an empty store aisle holding two plain cartons and a glass bottle, with a phone propped inside showing an email and a single coral button

Aug 23, 2026Performance

Abandoned Cart Email Examples: 6 Real Ones, Pulled Apart

The joke is not the lesson. The structure is.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A sage green cosmetic bottle with a brass cap on a limestone plinth in front of a mirror, where the reflected bottle has a silver cap, a sloping shoulder and different proportions

Aug 23, 2026Production

Why AI Product Images Get Your Product Slightly Wrong

It is not a prompt problem. It is a description problem.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

A grid of twelve tall product photographs pinned to a cream wall, three of them carrying small red paper tags

Aug 23, 2026Performance

How to Find Competitor Ads on Pinterest

The official library is real and free. It is also empty for most brands, and the reason why points at a better method.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Two clothing rails of neutral-toned garments against a plain white wall

Aug 22, 2026Production

Ghost Mannequin Photography Without the Mannequin

The invisible form is the easy part. Doing it again for every colourway is where the month goes.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

Two printed ad posters on a white wall: the same bottle centred on a flat peach gradient, and art directed on a sunlit ledge with a long shadow

Aug 22, 2026Production

Why Your AI Ads Look Like AI (and How to Fix It)

The problem was never the model. It was what you handed it.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Aug 22, 2026Performance

How to See Any Competitor’s Email Newsletters (Free)

The archives hold the campaigns. The flows only arrive if you set them off yourself.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

A printed sheet showing a polished ecommerce email design curling up off a smartphone whose screen underneath is completely blank

Aug 22, 2026Production

Can AI Design an Email Newsletter? Yes, With One Catch

The model will hand you a layout. What it will not hand you is the reason the layout works.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A printed advert on a cork board with a sheet of tracing paper over it showing only the layout drawn in red pencil, and a second advert beside it built on the same skeleton with a different product

Aug 22, 2026Playbooks

How to Recreate a Competitor's Ad for Your Brand (Legally)

Their layout is a method. Their photograph is property. Almost everybody gets that the wrong way round.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Rows of labelled wooden card catalogue drawers in an old library

Aug 20, 2026Playbooks

Google Ads Transparency Center: The Ad Library Nobody Mines

Meta Ad Library gets the traffic. The bigger archive sits open, free, and mostly unread.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

A flat lay of overlapping cream and white envelopes filling the frame

Aug 18, 2026Playbooks

Milled Alternatives: From Browsing Emails to Rebuilding Them

Seven ways to see what your competitors send, and the one job none of them finish.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

An empty photography studio with lights, a tripod and a yellow paper backdrop

Aug 12, 2026Performance

Ad Creative Agency vs AI: Cost Math at Three Spend Tiers

Nobody buys creative by the asset. You buy a rate of supply, and that is where the three routes actually differ.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A phone mounted on a tripod recording a city skyline at dusk, record indicator lit

Aug 7, 2026Production

Video Ad Hooks: Steal the Structure, Not the Script

The line expires. The shape underneath it does not.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

Rows of identical worn grey plastic chairs on a cobbled square, all empty

Aug 7, 2026Performance

Creative Fatigue in Meta Ads: Catch It Before Meta Does

By the time the Delivery column says it out loud, you have already paid for it.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

A fan of colour swatch cards arranged in a full circle on a grey surface

Aug 7, 2026Production

AI Ad Generators: Prompt-Driven vs Reference-Driven

The layout will be competent. The copy will be grammatical. Then you look at the label on your own product.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A hand holding an unbranded white pump bottle in soft daylight

Aug 6, 2026Production

Best AI UGC Video Generators: Fidelity Is the Test

Every one of these tools looks flawless with a generic avatar. Then you put your product in frame.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Pinned prints, paint swatches, postcards and fabric samples layered on a mood board

Aug 5, 2026Playbooks

Foreplay Alternatives: When Saving Ads Isn't the Bottleneck

Six tools, one honest question: which part of the job is actually slowing you down?

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

Two people comparing notes and charts across open laptops at a shared desk

Aug 4, 2026Playbooks

The Best Ad Spy Tools in 2026 (and Where They Stop)

Finding the ad that works is the cheap part. Everything after the screenshot is where the month goes.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A smartphone held up against a plain background, screen facing away from the camera

Jul 30, 2026Performance

TikTok Ads vs Facebook Ads: Same Product, Different Creative

The CPM tables everyone compares age in a quarter. The creative grammar of each platform does not, and it is what decides the split.

Henry Sedgwick · 11 min read

An old film projector throwing a beam of light through smoke in a dark room

Jul 29, 2026Performance

Static Ads vs Video Ads: The Answer Is a Ratio

Profitable accounts run both. What separates them is the ratio, and the ratio is usually set by production capacity rather than strategy.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

A curved library wall lined with thousands of colour-sorted books

Jul 29, 2026Playbooks

How to Build a Swipe File You Actually Produce From

Saving ads is free and easy. Getting something out of the folder six months later is the part nobody designs for.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

A hand holding a phone showing an app dashboard in front of a desktop screen

Jul 29, 2026Production

UGC Ads for SaaS: What Works With Nothing to Unbox

No box arrives, nothing gets held up to the lens. The authenticity has to come from the workflow instead.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

A fulfilment warehouse packed with parcels and shelving, seen from above

Jul 29, 2026Production

UGC Ads for Dropshipping Without Touching the Product

The product is three weeks away in someone else’s warehouse. The ad has to run on Monday.

Henry Sedgwick · 11 min read

A grid of paint colour swatches and material samples laid out on a desk

Jul 28, 2026Branding

Brand Consistency in AI Content: Use References, Not Guides

Brand guides tell a human what on-brand means. A diffusion model cannot read them. References can.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A laptop and open notebook on a wooden desk beside a cup of coffee

Jul 28, 2026Playbooks

LinkedIn Content Strategy for Founders: Posts as References

The blank composer is the bottleneck. A reference library is the fix.

Henry Sedgwick · 11 min read

A phone showing a feed of content on a desk beside a laptop

Jul 22, 2026Playbooks

Competitor Email Teardowns: Their Inbox Is Your Library

Everyone tracks competitor ads. Almost nobody systematically reads the emails, which is where the real playbook is sitting in plain sight.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A desk with a laptop showing marketing analytics dashboards and printed charts

Jul 20, 2026Performance

How Many Ad Creatives Should You Test? By Spend Tier

The right number is a win-rate problem, not a budget problem. And the ceiling is set by production, not by the calculator.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

Video production equipment and a camera set up to film a product on a table

Jul 20, 2026Production

AI Video Ads for Ecommerce Only Work With Real References

The formats that convert are not the ones the demo reels show off. And the thing that breaks a product video is almost never the hook.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

Hands holding a smartphone recording a product laid out on a table

Jul 19, 2026Production

UGC Ads Without Creators: How to Make Them Believable

The bottleneck was never the actor. It is whether the ad still feels like a person recorded it.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A laptop and notebook on a desk showing marketing analytics dashboards

Jul 19, 2026Playbooks

How to Find Competitor Facebook Ads (and Use Them)

The library is free and takes minutes. The value is in what you do after you find the ads.

Henry Sedgwick · 9 min read

A wristwatch photographed cleanly on a plain neutral surface

Jul 19, 2026Playbooks

14 Shopify Product Photo Ideas From One Reference Set

Stop planning fourteen shoots. Shoot the truth once, then generate every angle, context, and format your product page needs.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

Laptop showing performance charts next to printed analytics graphs on a desk

Jul 16, 2026Performance

Test Ad Creative on Facebook: One Reference, Ten Variants

The campaign structure is the easy part. A supply of comparable variants is what decides whether your testing programme works.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Calculator, notebook and financial documents laid out on a desk

Jul 9, 2026Industry

AI Product Photography vs a Studio Shoot: Real Cost Math

Skip the vague "AI is cheaper" line. Here is the actual per-SKU, per-variant math for a mid-size catalogue.

Henry Sedgwick · 8 min read

Abstract visualization suggesting AI and neural imagery

Mar 25, 2026Industry

AI Without References Is Just Noise

The model is doing exactly what it was built to do. The problem is that “plausible” and “on-brand” are different jobs.

Henry Sedgwick · 12 min read

Laptop screen showing charts and analytics

Mar 20, 2026Marketing

The Data on AI Ads Is In — and References Explain the Gap

We keep seeing the same pattern in account exports: velocity is up, but only some of that velocity clears brand and learning.

Henry Sedgwick · 11 min read

Camera lens and photography equipment on a dark surface

Mar 15, 2026Industry

The Studio Shoot Is Not Dead — It Is Now Your Reference Library

Stop treating the shoot as the place where you finish creative. Treat it as the place where you capture truth once.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

Mobile phone showing video or social interface

Mar 10, 2026E-Commerce

UGC vs Studio vs AI: The Debate Is Missing the Point

Everyone argues about aesthetic. Buyers argue about recognition. Guess which one shows up on the P&L.

Henry Sedgwick · 11 min read

Team collaborating at a whiteboard during a strategy meeting

Mar 5, 2026Creative Tips

Lock Your References Before You Generate Anything

Treat reference images like a locked headline. Change them deliberately, not casually.

Henry Sedgwick · 10 min read

Designer workspace with layouts and colour swatches

Feb 28, 2026Branding

10× More Variants, One Set of References

Volume is only a superpower when your tests are comparable. References are what make them comparable.

Henry Sedgwick · 12 min read